“You will gain nothing in this affair except by stratagem: invite them to a truce; once they feel secure, wheel round and attack them.”
So he sent a message to al-Dahhāk, and they suspended hostilities. Marwān then gathered his forces and fell upon al-Dahhāk, shouting to the people, “O Abū Unays, is it weakness after cleverness?” Al-Dahhāk replied, “Yes, by my life.” Battle was joined; al-Dahhāk was slain, and the Qays held their ground for a time before they broke and fled. A herald of Marwān proclaimed, “Do not pursue anyone who is running away.” (1)
Al-Wāqidī said: “The Qays were slaughtered at Marj Rāhiṭ as they had never been slaughtered before; it occurred in mid-Dhu l-Ḥijjah of the year 64 AH.” It was also said that when Marwān was brought al-Dahhāk’s head he regretted the killing and remarked, “Now, when old age has overtaken me and my end is near, have I come with battalions only to set them against one another?” (2)
47 – al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf (may Allah be pleased with him), the eminent Imām, the noble lord, the fragrant blossom
(1) The full report is preserved in Ibn Asakir, vol. 8, 208b–210; only the passage enclosed in brackets is cited here. Badran reproduces it in his Tadhhib, 7/7 and 7/9.
(2) Ibn Asakir, 8/210a.
(*) Main biographical sources: Nasab Quraysh, 46; Tabaqat Khalifa, nos. 8, 822, 1482, 1968; Al-Mukhabbar, 18, 19, 45, 46, 57, 66, 293, 326; Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, 2/286; Tarikh al-Tabari, 5/158; Al-Jarh wa-l-Ta‘dil, 3/19; Mashahir ‘Ulamaʾ al-Amsar, no. 6; Muruj al-Dhahab, 3/181; Hilyat al-Awliyaʾ, 2/35; Jumhurat Ansab al-‘Arab, 38–39; Al-Istiy‘ab, 383; Tarikh Baghdad, 1/138; Tarikh Ibn Asakir, 4/244b; Jam‘ al-Usul, 9/27, 9/36; Usd al-Ghaba, 2/9; Al-Kamil, 3/460; Mu‘jam al-Tabarani, 3/5, 3/97; Tadhhib al-Asmaʾ wa-l-Lughat, 1/1/158; Wafayat al-A‘yan, 2/65; Tahdhib al-Kamal, 271; Tarikh al-Islam, 2/216; Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, 1/140a; Al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, 12/107; Mirʾat al-Janan, 1/122; Al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 8/14, 33, 45; Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, 9/174; Al-‘Iqd al-Thamin, 4/157; Al-Isaba, 1/328; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 2/295; Tarikh al-Khulafaʾ, 187; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, 67; Shadharāt al-Dhahab, 1/55-56; Tahdhib Ibn Asakir, 4/202.